


You and I Can Go (Best of Women)

by SilverRose42



Series: Phenomenal Woman - That's Me [3]
Category: Black Widow (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Phil Coulson, BAMF Women, Female Clint Barton, Female-Centric, Multi, Natasha Romanov Joins SHIELD, Polyamory, Rule 63, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 22:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13176447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRose42/pseuds/SilverRose42
Summary: Chelsea Frances Barton has exactly one arrow still strapped to her back, a bow that’s been thru hell and back in her hand, and a wary Russian assassin standing in front of her, ready to kill her if she says the wrong thing.Surprisingly, it’s not the worst situation she’s ever been in.OR: The author Rule 63s Clint Barton, and maybe lets a bisexual Russian have at him.





	You and I Can Go (Best of Women)

Chelsea Frances Barton has exactly one arrow still strapped to her back, a bow that’s been thru hell and back in her hand, and a wary Russian assassin standing in front of her, ready to kill her if she says the wrong thing.

Surprisingly, it’s not the worst situation she’s ever been in.

~*~

(She will later make claims that Budapest is the worst situation she’s ever been in, but she knows, deep down, that she will never feel anything worse than what she felt when Barney stood over her injured body and told her she should have been more loyal to her mentor.)

~*~

Barney Barton, for all of his flaws, is actually a decent older brother? He’s not the best, Chel will be the first to admit that, but he wasn’t terrible.

He got them out of that ghastly orphanage after all, and then into the circus. Sure, the circus wasn’t that great either, but Barney looked out for her, and she for him. It was nice.

Chel hadn’t actually wanted to work under the Swordsman. She had spent months admiring the beautiful people who soared above everyone’s heads, the trapeze artists that made flying look easy. But she had a talent, so to the Swordsman she went, Barney’s watchful eye on her all the way.

(Then she discovers the embezzlement scheme, and, well. The rest is history. Barney boards a bus to the army. Chel doesn’t.)

~*~

She hangs around with Trick Shot for a while, learning as much as she can. She takes to the bow better than the blade. She’s good at both, but she actually enjoys the bow. Then she shots her brother accidently, gets beat up by her mentor again, and refuses to leave her brother’s side.

Except that then she has to, so she goes, and they’re split once more.

~*~

SHEILD brings her in. They hire her, though she’s not super happy about it. She’s had enough of killing people, but they’ll just throw her in jail if she doesn’t comply.

She goes through seven handlers before the give her to Coulson. Phillip Coulson is a brilliant man, one that actually understands how Chel works, and they make a good team. Phil trusts her to make good calls.

It’s this trust that leads to Chel meeting the Black Widow.

~*~

Natalia Alianova Romanova is the most beautiful person Chel knows. She’s also the most dangerous.

She’s a bit like a cat, actually. She slinks around his periphery, never far out of Chel’s space, drifting on the edges. The other agents are all terrified of her, and honestly, so is Chel, but. Well. Chel thinks Natalia Alianova is also kind of amazing.

Not that she would ever say that to the other woman’s face, of course.

~*~

The less said about Budapest, the better really.

It’s Chel’s first mission with Natalia, and her first mission in a long time without Phil as her handler. No one is pleased about this arrangement.

Needless to say, it does not go well. There are explosions everywhere, and their handler is a useless bastard who almost gets Natalia killed. Chel saves her just in time, but that doesn’t mean they actually get what they came for.

Chel marches into Fury’s office the very day they get back, even before she goes to debrief, and informs him in no uncertain terms that if she can’t work with Phil, she won’t work at all, jail time be damned.

Fury gets a pinched look on his face, but agrees under the stipulation that he also has to work with Natalia as a partner.

Since Natalia actually knows what she’s doing, this isn’t exactly a hardship for Chel, so she takes it.

Natalia, who had been listening in the whole time, the ever-present shadow that she is, tells Chel to call her Natasha, which leads to a confusing conversation about Russian names that Chel never wants to have again (but will, inevitable have again every time someone introduces Nat as Natasha Romanov instead of Natalia Romanova).

~*~

Phil stares at them both in silent contemplation when they report to him after debrief. He had greeted Natasha with a slight tile of the head, and a calm “Natalia Alianova,” and simply raised an eyebrow at Chel.

Chel had just grinned back at him.

~*~

If Chel and Phil were dangerous together, then Chel, Natasha, and Phil are the deadliest thing on the planet.

Nobody at SHEILD ever challenges them. Everyone is terrified of their brutal efficiency.

~*~

Captain America is found. Phil is sent on babysitting duty of Tony Stark. Shit goes down.

Chel purses her lips in the rain in New Mexico and waits for Phil to make the call, while miles away, Nat handles Stark with her own skills.

The world is changing. Chel isn’t sure that they’re ready for it.

~*~

Before the portal opens up and spits Loki out, before any of that happens, Nat snags both Chel and Phil, and kisses them both.

Chel and Phil have been dancing around each other for years, and Nat only complicated the matter, but now it’s clear as day.

Chel gets the call to watch the cube while she’s in bed, curled up between the two best people in her world.

~*~

Chel tries not to remember what happened while she was under Loki’s control. It’s better for everyone that way.

~*~

Phil comes back to them in secret, without telling Fury. Chel and Nat both smack him, kiss him, and burst into tears into his shoulder. Phil admits that he deserves all of it.

They make sure to tell the team. Phil moves into the Tower.

~*~

Chel is content. She saves more people than she kills these days, which leaves a warm feeling in her stomach. She curls up with her lovers every night, listens to Nat mummer sweet nothings in Russian, to Phil whispering their names softly like it’s the only thing keeping him alive (Chelsea, he sighs. Natalia Alianova, Nat’chenka he hums).

She spends her off days with her team, a group of people she’s come to love, despite everything. And Chelsea Frances Barton, for the first time in a very long time, is truly happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! Short note today.
> 
> For anyone that read the story I posted on Christmas, and they read the AN, you'll know that I'm supposed to be writing a fic a day until New Years. You'll also know that I didn't write one yesterday. Opps. I'll be posting two tomorrow, hopefully. That should be, if all goes to plan, the next chapter of A Funny Thing Happened in London, and a tiny little drabble for my Once Upon a Time series. After that, be on the lookout for a remix of It's Our Destiny, and on New Years Eve, a new story for Yuri on Ice!
> 
> Next up in this series is going to be Bruce Banner!


End file.
